What's are contract numbers looking like for next season? Erne and DeAngelo come on, we just signed Wilcox, Peca and now Darcy. O'Donnell is still an option as well as Masin. Gauthier, Milan, Sergeev will be gone, most likely one of if not both Cote, Corrente. Paradis or Smith are RFA but with Broll we may not qualify one. Angelidis probably comes back if he wants, Blunden was playing well before injury so they may want him back too.
With the Darcy signing I can't think of any picks since the pretty awful 2010 draft where we only got Connolly and Gudas that we haven't signed who were playing in NA. Only ones left are Gusev if he comes we will sign him, Hart hopefully he takes a huge step this year but I still expect since he was a 2nd rounder, Salminen most likely won't be signed, then Thomas/Macloud/Masin/DiGiacinto from this past draft. 20 of 27 picks since 2011 have signed, 4 are from this past draft, 2 in Europe and one in College that's not bad at all.
"At the beginning of the year I was obviously upset that I got sent back to junior,'' Darcy said.
Darcy comes off a junior year that he said seasoned him for Syracuse, yet one that also doused him with perhaps a career-turning reality.
...
"I was snake-bit a bit there,'' Darcy said. "I was on pretty much a completely team than last year, when I got back. It just didn't feel right, like it was the right fit this year for me. Me and (coach Marc-André Dumont) respect each other. We both thought that it was in my best interest and his best interest to move me. Yeah, it was tough. I loved it there.''
Darcy was harsh in his self-assessment at the time. But the motivation worked: he produced 20 goals and 25 assists in 37 games with Sherbrooke.
"I kind of looked myself in the mirror and said, 'I've got to wake up a bit here if I want to get to where I want to be, if I want to sign a contract,''' he said. "Just play harder all-around, get back to being first on the puck and get back to taking things to the net and driving and just making plays.''
The Crunch is brimming with forwards right now, so coach Rob Zettler said he's not sure when Darcy will get a chance to break into the lineup. But the coach hasn't forgotten the calling card Darcy left in preseason and in prospect camps.
"(He's a) skilled player, smart player, he's got really good hands, can create some stuff offensively and make some things happen,'' Zettler said.
"When Darcy's mental approach matches the strength of his on-ice impact, he's tough for the opposition to stop. Consistency will come around with further maturity,'' writes the Tampa Bay prospects website, Boltprospects.com
"I think that it helped me,'' he said of an extra season of juniors. "I think I was able to develop more and get my confidence back again playing juniors. That probably was the best thing for me.''
Right now it looks something like thisWhat's are contract numbers looking like for next season?
Right now it looks something like this
Under Contract for 2015-2016
Not Under Contract for 2015-2016LW | C | RW | D | G
Gourde|Richard|Vermin|Nesterov|Vasilevskiy?
Ikonen|Peca||Koekkoek|Gudlevskis
Broll|Darcy||Blujus|Wilcox
Erne|||Dotchin|
|||DeAngelo|
RFA | UFA | AHL Contract
LW - Smith|C - Angelidis|LW - Costello
LW - Marchessault|RW - Blunden|C - Lynch
LW - Paradis|D - Cote|C - Deschamps
LW - Gauthier|D - Corrente|RW - Neilson
C - Kunyk|G - York|D - Dodero
RW - Ashton||D - Mormina
D - Witkowski||
D - Milan||
also..
- Martindale was loaned to us from San Antonio. He's a RFA for the Panthers
- O'Donnell is still unsigned